“You tell him to do what comes naturally to him, and he’ll die of humiliation!” Hawk lectures Forest, holding his hand out as if to express the conviction in his words. If there is any.
“No...” Forest draws out as if he’s slowing his speech down for an idiot. Because he is. “If he does anything that’s unnatural, he’s going to be fixated on performance, which leads to anxiety?—”
Hawk moves to stand in front of me, blocking Forest from view as he perches on the edge of the desk. “You’ve got to wow her. Show her you’re confident—not just in yourself but what you can do for her. That pump action rifle in your pants? Show her how big it is and how hard and unyielding it is for her.” He keeps talking with his hand.
“Do not follow the advice of this overcompensating fuckwad,” Forest says from behind him.
“It’s not overcompensating when it’s just reality.” Hawk lays his statement out plainly, punctuated with a sigh. “Women like the fireworks, so show her everything you’ve got. And add in a little dirty talk—that gets their engines revving. Just don’t go over the top.”
“And you can never get too creative with your tongue,” a completely new voice says.
My entire body goes rigid as a fucking plank. Hawk’s head slowly rises from me to the doorway, his mouth agape, and I barely register Forest rolling his chair to peek around him. I have to practically tell my upper torso to turn and regard thestranger in the doorway dressed peculiarly like he fell out ofThe Matrix. Everything about him is dark, save for the friendly smile that almost dares to light up his impossibly dark eyes as he looks between the three of us.
“Excuse me, can I help you?” Forest is the first to speak with Hawk hot on his heels.
“Who the hell are you?”
Forest glares at Hawk and shoves him off his desk. Hawk moves, taking space against the wall next to my chair.
“Name’s Coal Valor.” The man slowly steps inside the office. “I came across a report of inhumane foothold traps on this terrain. I think maybe I can be of some help.”
“How’d you hear about that?” Hawk lifts a skeptical eyebrow.
“And an inhumane foothold trap is redundant,” I add.
“I agree.” He looks at me with a sincere look and then back to Hawk. “And it came up on my radar. I’m a…specialist, let’s say, in that kind of thing.” He pulls a rogue strand of black hair that’s come loose from his man bun behind his ear.
“What do you mean byspecialist?” Forest rises from his seat and jams his hands in his pockets.
Coal blinks slowly as he nods. “I mean, I don’t exactly do things on book but…” He looks around, knowing full well he’s gotten the hackles of all three lawmen up, but proceeds confidently. “I can make the problem go away.”
Forest pulls his hands from his pockets, planting one on his hip while holding the other out and waving his fingers. “I’m going to need to see some identification and any and all credentials before we take this any further.”
“Of course.” Coal reaches into his jacket and produces a thick but compact envelope showing how prepared he was for what he was sure to encounter with a group of game wardens.
Forest’s eyebrows lift as he takes the envelope from him, immediately opening and perusing the contents.
“So where the fuck did you come from?” Hawk rests a foot up on the wall behind him and crosses his arms.
“I’m part of a certain justice organization chapter just about an hour outside of Seattle,” Coal explains easily.
Forest reaches past the brother who doesn’t give a flying fuck about professionalism to hand me Coal’s paperwork. His weapon permits and driver’s license look completely official and valid, but the next document sends a jolt of adrenaline through my system. When I look up, Forest nods with anI knowexpression painted over every inch of his features.
It’s a news article about an animal testing lab that had been ransacked, eradicated of all animal test subjects without a trace of evidence. I move it to the back of the stack of documents to find another article about a dog fighting ring that had gotten the same treatment, only the alleged racketeers had been found at the scene locked in compact crates with choke collars.
Coal continues to calmly list his qualifications in correlation with what I’m reading. “I’ll just say I’m proficient in discretion and extremely skilled at…educating.”
It’s easy to read between his lines. He makes the problem go away by teaching extremely inconvenient lessons to the perpetrators. I don’t hate the sound of that. That said, the Owens outfit is tasked with upholding the law.
“We are dedicated to keeping our practice lawful,” Forest supplies for me, crossing his arms.
“Absolutely.” Coal gives an exaggerated nod in understanding. “Which is why I work alone and off book.”
“And if we refuse your help?” Hawk tips his head in question.
“Then you never saw me,” he explains simply.
I get the eerie feeling it really would be that simple. “So why even come to us?” I ask, handing him back all his paperwork. “Why even take the risk with a bunch of officers of the law?”
